Spool-holder.



V. H. GANHAM.

SPOOL HQLDER.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 1a, 1909.

Patented Oct. 11, 1910.

VICTOR H. CANHAM, 0F GUELPI-I, ONTARIO, CANADA.

SPOOL-HOLDER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 11,1910.

- Application filed February 18, 1909. Serial No. 478,705.

To all whom it may concern;

Be it known that I, VICTOR H. CANHAM, a subject of the King of England,residing at Guelph, in the Province of Ontario, D0- minion of Canada,havein'vented a certain new and useful Improvement in Spool- Holders, ofwhich the following is a specification. 7

My invention relates to spool holders. It is illustrated in theaccompanying drawings, wherein- Figure 1 is a plan'view with parts shownin dotted lines; Fig. 2 is an end view; Fig. 3 is a detail of the spoolholder.

Like parts are indicated by the same letter in all the figures.

A is a body preferably of wood having at one end the aperture A wherebyit may be suspended. Along the sides of this body are distributed thespool holders. Each preferably consists of a spring, the two ends ofwhich B, B, are flattened as shown so that when forced into the woodthey are less likely to turn or be withdrawn. At the point Where thesespring ends emerge from the body the distance between their outer sides,indicated at B is approximately equal to the diameter of the hole in thespool. The spring ends are most widely separated near their outerextremities at the place indicated by the line B so that they have to besprung together to receive the spool, and to yieldingly hold it near theouter end of the spool holder. This arrangement tends to force the spoolinwardly toward the body and keep it on the spool holder while it isbeing rotated. In order to give the spool holder spring the requisiteelasticity its middle portion B is bent inwardly to form an inner loopbetween the sides B B and its outer portion is looped so as to make twoouter loops B B which together form the outer and widened spring end ofthe spool holder. The spool C is commonly provided with the grooves C onits inner surface and they receive the outer loops of the holder whichpasses through it and since these grooves are diametrically opposed toeach other it is highly important that the loops B B should be separatedas indicated in Fig. 3, for otherwise, as the spool rotates they willcome together and cramp. Arranged as they are, they do not so cramp andthe spool continues to rotate with comparative equality of tension or atleast with no sufficient increase of tension to interfere with itsconvenient operation.

The knife has the two parts D D inwardly curved so as to make theV-shaped thread guide D and it is provided with the inner projection Dwhich is driven into the end of the body to hold the knife in position.Inwardly projecting from the bottom of the V shaped guide D is the slitD The two parts D, D are separated by being forced in oppositedirections as indicated in Fig. 3, so as to leave a slight openingbetween them at the bottom of the guide, which allows the thread E toenter and causes it to be partly cut and partly broken across the edgesof the slit.

It is obvious that the form, structure, arrangement and size of theseveral parts could be varied without departing from the spirit of myinvention and it is equally obvious that some of them might be omittedwithout interfering with the function of the others.

I wish my drawing to be taken in a sense as diagrammatic or illustrativegenerally of my invention, though in point of fact it does exhibit aparticular form of device which contains my invention.

I shall in my claims set forth the essential features which I desire tocover.

The use and operation of my invention are as follows: In the ordinarypractice of the sewing art, spools of thread are thrown about carelesslyand the thread becomes unwound and tangled. This device makesarrangement for a series of spools, and of course there might be anydesired number,

to be mounted on a single body so that they are permanently associatedtogether. In this relation it is not easy for the thread to becomeunwound or the various threads to be seriously tangled as the holder andits associated spools are thrown about in ordinary practice. When thethread of any spool is to be used, it is taken between the thumb andforefinger and drawn off until the right length is obtained and thenbrought between the two parts and down into the slit where a furtherpull will cut and break the thread, leaving it with a brush like end,the fibers being separated so that it can be easily brought in conditionto enter the eye of the needle. The end of the thread thus cut differsfrom an end cut by scissors or knife. When the spool is forced onto thespool holder the outer end of the spool holder is compressed and thespool slides inwardly along the holder until it reaches the edge of thebody. In this position the spool is grasped from within by the spoolholder with an excess of pressure at its outer end, but it is held fromwabbling or tipping at its inner end because the inner end of the spoolhole is just about as wide as the distance between the outside edges ofthe springs near the body. As previously explained, the spool freelyrotates but tends always to move toward the body instead of away from itbecause of the spread and elasticity of the spool holder at its outerend. The length of the spool holder should be such that the outer endwill always extend beyond the middle of any ordinary spool which may beapplied to it and in this event any smaller spool will also be kept inposition near the body.

I claim:

1. As a new article of manufacture, a spool holder comprising a detachedbody and a series of fingers each rigidly secured thereto at one end andfree at the other and increasing in width and elasticity from thecreasing in width and. elasticity from the body outwardly toward itsfree end, said free end containing a plurality of spring loops formed bybending the wire of which the finger is composed.

3. A spool holder comprising a fiat onepart body, a plurality of fingersrigidly supported therein and protruding therefrom, said fingers made ofa plurality of wire loops and increasing in width and elasticity fromthe body outwardly toward its free end, said fingers located in pairsupon each side of said body.

VICTOR H. CANHAM.

Witnesses:

EDNA K. REYNOLDS, LUCY A. F ALKENBERG.

